As a normal earthling you can put assets and even other people’s lives at risk, whilst keeping your selfish self unharmed. As a Pilot in Command (PIC) it’s somewhat different. If you put your aircraft or passengers at risk, you inevitably put your own life at risk too.
So, if you are at least remotely sane in your mind, you should have a natural incentive to minimise risk in your flying. Equally, if you are not a PIC and want to venture out there, where few have been, he would advise you to make sure you engage a reasonably sane PIC. Him for example.
He has spent most of his professional career in risk management. When becoming a PIC he realised, that flying has far more to do with risk management than he ever thought.
Risk Management for flight starts with your planning down there on planet earth. Everything you plan before your flight, will give you valuable resources and capacity to deal and cope with the unexpected and unplanned events, which you may experience in flight.
Here is some food for thought, you may want to consider during your planning for a flying adventure into Africa.
Navigation
You will want to use your GPS, and that is certainly a great thing. You will soon discover though, that you have to manually setup most of your way points routing across Africa.
When you set these way points up, firstly you should make sure your source information is reliable and accurate. Use Google Earth to double check. Secondly, have your GPS entries double checked by a second person. Firstly, that is recommended practice. And secondly, you probably don’t want to end up way off track with insufficient fuel to get to one of those very few and scarce places where there is fuel. It may spoil your adventure.
For route planning prior to flight he uses EasyPlan. In flight, if the aircraft does not have a built in GPS, EasyCockpit, SkyDemon and/or Garmin Pilot are very handy. Both have however only very limited charts beyond South Africa. He therefore carries a collection of other aviation charts in his Flight Bag.
You may also be well advised to not rely solely on your GPS unit. In particular battery powered devices. Batteries do not appreciate the scorching heat of the African sun.
Charts, a compass, a Swiss automatic chronograph and a ruler and protractor, is what he uses as a back up. That won’t fail you and will take you safely to your intended destination. Just one cautionary note on those charts. Do not expect the usual VFR Charts you are probably used to. You won’t find any of those for many parts of Africa. Source whatever you can and is useful for navigation. There are copies of old ONC charts available. Yes, they may date back to the 1970ies or 1980ies. But remember, out there in those remote places you want to explore, little has changed.
Weather forecasts
Many countries in Africa do not have a dedicated aviation met office. Additionally, METARs and TAFs are often expired if available at all.
It may therefore be advisable to consult multiple sources for your weather information and apply your met knowledge you learnt for your pilot license. Different sources give you different information and valuable references for your planning.
He uses information from local weather services, listens to what the locals have to say, and consults online resources like Windy, WXAviation and Sat24.
Whatever you conclude and from wherever the information you used, weather forecasts are always an assumption based on certain current or not so current weather models. The actual weather for the day may develop differently.
A theological or esoteric approach of just firmly believing your forecast assumption may not be a good approach, if it ever is. For proper risk management, he would suggest that, before you take off, make sure you have a plan for what you are going to do if that weather forecast turns sour.
Scud-running can be irresponsibly risky if you are not very familiar with the terrain and surroundings. So just that on its own, may not be your best plan.
Route and performance considerations
You may want to consider your points of no return on route, i.e. beyond which you can no longer return to where you came from or an alternate safe place to land. Check for safe landing options beyond your point of no return, and alternative routes to get to your destination within your available fuel range.
If you have a solid plan, there is no reason to keep yourself grounded just because there may be a little bit of rough weather along your route. And remember, if you can see trough, you can fly through.
But before you head out there for take off, you should be aware that it is not uncommon to take off from an airfield at 5000 feet AMSL or more. And the African sun can be scorching from fairly early in the day. You may be well advised to consider your density altitude and consult your aircraft’s performance charts.
If you are used to fly from low altitude, he would also advise you to consider leaning your mixture before take off. You may need that extra bit of power when you are fully loaded and taking off at high density altitude.
Fuel
Fuel can be a little challenge when you want to get out there, where few have been.
The first step would be to minimise the need for re-fueling. That means, use long-range tanks and always fill them up. He does never trade fuel for luggage or an overly obese passenger to keep within loading limits. Fuel comes first. Remember you may easily be in need for some extra fuel to circumnavigate some rough weather along your route.
Secondly, consider an engine, which can run on Avgas and Mogas. Avgas can get very difficult to find at some places, and Mogas gives a lot of additional flexibility.
But be careful with that Mogas. It happens not so seldom in Africa that fuel at a gas station is blended with stuff that shouldn’t be in there. Fuel is cash and people are very inventive when it comes to stretching their profits. He had himself severally picked up contaminated fuel in his Jeep out there in remote Africa. The Jeep is fortunately very forgiving and keeps on driving. Your aircraft may not, and that is somewhat more risky than when you are on the road.
Lastly, if fuel availability is officially published for an airfield, it merely means that there is a fuel bay. Do not assume that there will be fuel. You know whose mother assumptions are and if you are reasonably sane in your mind, you probably don’t want to be her child.
If there was fuel yesterday, it does not mean that there will be fuel tomorrow. They may run out of fuel and supply is far away, or the fuel pump may just have broken down without a certified mechanic or spare parts anywhere close. He was once stuck in a remote village in the western Sahara where fuel ran out. It took 4 days for a truck to arrive and re-fill the local fuel station.
Final remarks
This is by all means not an exhaustive list of things to consider in your flight planning when flying in Africa. He would appreciate to hear from you and your thoughts and contributions to the subject.
At the end, it’s about reaching that chosen destination safely. The prospect of discovering new places and its hidden secrets makes planning exciting, and a good plan, the outcome ever so rewarding.